Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1887-11-30
CHINESE IN NEW YORK.
How Gotham's Fourteen MonRo-
Ian Women Live.
Celestial Cookery and Domestic Life-An
American Lady's Visit to Madam Lee
Chick San Chong-Hen-Pecked
Orisntals.

So far as known there are only fourteen
Chinese women in New York City, writes
Nelly BLY,, in the Philadelphia Press. OF
these, nine are married, one is widow, one
an unmarried girl, one a nurse and two
anonyma. Although residents Of the
United States, they obey 10 the very letter
the strange system OF law and custom
which obtains in the Flowery KingSom, n
system which strongly resembles the treat
ment Of the queen bee in an apiary by her
drones and workers. The moment she mar
ries, the Mongolian damsel becomes tho
property Of her husband-a little more so
than they do in America. Her spouse has
the privilege, as all husbands the world
ovOr, 10 chide, scold and chastise her for
her faults, and they assert that in cases OF
grave crime he has the right TO kill her In
his punishment no may put her on what we
would call bread and water diet, keep her
locked up in a bedroom, closet or cellar, or
beat her with his hand or bamboo rod.
In New York tho Chinese family lives in
the same fiat or building as that in which
the pater familias does business. To the
wife are allotted one, two or three rooms,
according 20 his wealth. From these she
practically never stirs. Either her hus-
band or servant does all the marketing and
shopping Still worse, she must not re
ceive calls from the other sex, excepting in
rare cases when the husband presents an
intimate friend. On such an occasion the
visitor bows repeatedly, shakes his own
hand vigorously for a minute or two, utters
the usual stereotyped remarks about the
health ofherscf, family, cousin and friends,
and departs without once having looked at
her face. She goes TO no places Of amuse-
ment and never walks upon the street.
She reads but little, and that love stories,
love poems and religious books. But she
can generally cook, weave, crochet, en-
brother and "kcop house" miraculously.
A dinner with Mo Kee, a leading i'm
porter and banker at No. Mott street, or
with Fuong Hong Long at No is an event
which will bear comparison with a banquet
at Delmonicos or the Hoffman House The
wife will take dozen eggs, pierce them at
either end, blow out the contents, refill
them with vari-colored and vari-havored
custards and jcllies, seal the apertures
and then when cooked paint the shells until
they arc n nightmare of dragons, flying
griffins and impossible trees that look like
men and men that look like trees. She will
open and steam fish until the skin can be
removed without losing scale and the
bones without breaking the flesh. II is
stuffed with an aromatic and pungent mass
OF meats and spices. Then the skin is put
back and the eyes and head touched up so
as 20 be half natural and calf grotesque.
Most Of her culinary genius is expended on
stews and made dishes. Here she uses
every article known TO the Persian chief
and President Blackboard, Of the Ichtheo-
phagous Club, and host Of food sub
stances, spices and condiments, for which
there are no names in any Of the European
languages
Her skill in weaving and embroidering
silk is equally great With a needle no
finer than which her occidental sister uses
she will construct a dragon an inch long
and half inch high, Of which not only the
teeth, eyes and claws are perfect, but even
the pupil, iris and cOrnea and the difference
between the incisOrs and CANNES arc clearly
and naturally defined.
Lee Chick San Chong, a merchant at &c
Mott street, captured by my smiles, con-
scented 10 introduce me TO his wife. His
store was in the basement and his wife
lived on the first floor above. followed my
guide through a dirty, uncarpeted hall to
door ut the farthest end. He raped rather
vigorously with his knuckles on the por.
tai, which had no outside knob or latch.
After awhile IL was unlocked on the inside,
he pushed il open and we stood on the in.
inside. Almost in the rear Of the room,
with some sewing in her hand, stood the
woman had come to see. She smiled al
her husband and looked at me without fear
or surprise, but as babe looks at a new
object held before its innocent eyes. Lee
Chick San Chong spoke TO her in his pecul.
lar language, and then turning to me said:
my wife, Another moment and the little
brown fingers covered with rings were
clasped in my gloved hand and we were look.
ing at each other as only two women can
A little woman, no more than five feet
high, with the blacklist of eyes, which were
larger and more open than those of the
average Chinaman. She had the typical
Monaghan face, with complexion that
from the exclusion of sunlight resembled
bleeched golded wax. Her blue black hair
was combed back without a part, dressed
over the ears like half oyster shell and
down the back of the head in long oblong
puff. Gold rings kept it in place, but il
had the appearance of being soaped to make
1t smooth and stiff. The forehead was ex
tremely high, and the eyebrows had
habtually surprised curve. The cheeks
were round, dotted with charming dimples
the nose little inclined to flatness, but
withal piquant, the teeth exquisitely white
and beautifully shaped, and the lips either
artihcially dyed or naturally rich carmine
With the air and look of childish innocence
Mrs. San Chong was not bad to look at
us your wife satisfied" l asked Lee
Chick. mo, she is not. She Is perfectly
happy in her home life, having no other de
sire, but she is childless, the greatest Attic
ton that can bcfall a Chinese wife" Lee
Chick is also very much dissatisfied at the
rate his family refuses to increase. After
trying unsuccessfully to adopt some Ameri
can child, he has decided TO take his wife
back TO China and leave her there. He will
then procure himself another. He has al
ready one wife in China and two children
but she refuses TO come TO America Lee
Chick wants an American for number three
and he made the writer proposal. He was
told that Americans were allowed but one
wife and that if they were found TO have
one in Brooklyn and another in Harlem
they would get into serious trouble. Tive
wives In one room in China no trouble
was his reply This is uncomfortable, but
IL Is true. With all their addition in wives.
divorce and iniidelity are very rare We
drank a social cup Of tea from china cups
about twice the size of a thimble, and after
wishing one another a "Kung He Fa Toll
the equivalent Of II yglsh you great pros.
perity,m the interview was over. IL would
seem that women never wear the brooches
in the Celestial Empire, but when asked
Lee Chick, no sighed and said that there
were just as many hen. pecked husbands in
the Orient "Allee samee Amelika."
ABOUT KITE-FLYING.